METAL GEAR SOLID 2: SONS OF LIBERTY
by Orpheus1
Summary: An alternate version of what could have happened instead.....


I was so utterly disappointed with the storyline in MGS2. I was expecting a story woven with suspense and intrigue, and most of all, a grand conclusion with Snake facing off against Ocelot and Solidus. From that disappointed, this story culminated. It's currently incomplete. I've only written the ending, and would appreciate some feedback on the general direction and tone taken with such a conclusion. Please direct any critiques, compliments or death threats to nicholasrodusek@hotmail.com . I will be posting earlier chapters as soon as possible.  
  
  
  
Conflict  
  
The sun setting behind the horizon spilled every hue of orange, red and yellow imaginable across the sky, bathing Snake's face in warmth, and gently wiping the sea water from his face.  
  
The spray of the sea and hymn of the ocean's waves belied the illusion of tranquility, but what would transpire within this abandoned oilrig would be everything but. Ocelot and Snake's fates were already interwined; deadlocked upon an abrupt, and inevitably destructive conclusion. He stood in admiration of the sun setting before him, acknowledging the possibility that it would be his last.  
  
Then he passed through the doorway inside.  
  
* * *  
  
Inside.  
  
The ninja touched his neck softly, and Raiden's voice came through the codec. "Nothing within the outer perimeter." He said.  
  
"He's waiting for us inside." Solidus replied, dropping his whispering pose, "Hurry up and move, clear all rooms and breach the inner sanctum."  
  
Solidus crept along quietly, the catwalk high above the machine room led to an illuminated control room. From there, he would be able to access the power grid. Once he reached the dank room, he turned a dial and flicked on a switch. Behind him, he turned a stubborn valve connecting to the main generators, and the darkness all around him was plunged into light. The control room where he stood was located high above a vast, hangar- like warehouse, reminding him much of where Snake battled Liquid who, at the time piloted Rex. In one corner of the room he caught a flicker of motion, obscured by several crates. He climbed a ladder to the ground.  
  
The second his foot touched down, he heard a crackle, and streaks of electricity lined him like a silhouette; his stealth camouflage had deactivated.  
  
"Come out where I can see you." A voice echoed off the cold walls.  
  
Solidus unsheathed his sword in an instant, positioning it in a defensive arc. "Come now, Sears," the voice again, coming from seemingly nowhere, "You're as afraid as a child."  
  
"I am not afraid of you." Solidus said, determined not to sound as he felt.  
  
"Indeed?"  
  
Solidus turned to see Ocelot standing directly behind, he slashed downwards at him and sparks erupted from the metal floor. Ocelot dodged and now stood to his left. Solidus turned his wrist and flicked the blade towards the Russian striking nothing but still air as Ocelot ducked under the sword's motion. Solidus screamed in frustration and thrusted the katana at his enemy's grinning face. Ocelot sidestepped without much effort, and slammed his knuckles into Solidus' wrist, and the blade dropped to the ground. Solidus spun now, to retreat, but was met with a jab to his gut, clutching his stomach, Solidus fell to his knees. Ocelot grabbed his throat and backhanded him across the face repeatedly. The intensity of Ocelot's attack was staggering, Solidus' faceplate crumpled with a single blow, then shattered and splintered his face on the next. Ocelot tossed the ninja to the side in disgust and Solidus struggled to regain his stance but fell to the ground in a bloody mess. Quickly he removed his visor and wiped the blood from his face before it reduced his vision to a crimson smear.  
  
"You shouldn't have come here, Sears." Ocelot said. "Your plan was the better. All the boy needed to do was come within ten feet of me and cough." Solidus glared at him. "You did what you thought was right, to some cost to yourself. Noble aren't you? For a withered corpse."  
  
Ocelot's hand went to his holster and Solidus rolled to his sword, whipping it before him as he heard the wail of revolvers. His blade seemed to move before he commanded it to, and he felt the dull blows of 9mm ricocheting from the steel. Time ceased to exist, Solidus' eyes traced each bullet path from Ocelot's revolvers to his sword, for it required his complete focus, and more effort than he could muster to reflect each new, oncoming bullet, but one thing was becoming clear: he was falling behind.  
  
He counted four bullets, then the next one flew past his sword and struck him in the shoulder, blood erupted from the wound, and he staggered back as time resumed regular service.  
  
"Too slow." Ocelot sneered. "You weren't made to stand against the likes of us."  
  
Solidus' eyes widened, "You mean you..."  
  
Ocelot stopped him in midsentence, "Did you really think you were the perfect one?" He threw his pistol to the ground and stalked towards him, "I don't need weapons to eradicate an insect such as you."  
  
Ocelot's fists pummelled Solidus furiously, with a speed and strength he had never beheld. As each fist struck, a sickening crunch followed, and bone was quickly crushed to powder.  
  
The last George Sears ever saw was Ocelot's enraged face, his hands caked with blood.  
  
* * *  
  
A familar beep sounded in Snake's ear. "Snake, it's me."  
  
"Snake knelt and touched his neck, "Who is this? Raiden?"  
  
"Yeah," Raiden's voice trembled, "I came here with Sears."  
  
"You are leaving now." Snake stated bluntly, "Bad enough Campbell had the 'insight' to infect you, I don't have time to wetnurse you. Otacon will be here soon, so get to the 7C exit. And make sure you identify yourself from a distance. The last thing we need is this epidermic spreading. Where is Ocelot?"  
  
"I think he's--"  
  
Before he could continue, static cut him off. "Raiden!" Snake shouted.  
  
"I must thank that boy. All I needed was for someone within the plant to contact you through codec so I could receive the transmission frequency."  
  
"Ocelot." Snake growled.  
  
"Indeed." Ocelot replied with a chuckle, "You've been a worthy adversary, Solid Snake. Far more worthy than even I expected. But I cannot allow you to interfere now. What I am about to do is far too important to be disrupted by ignorant children. If you leave now, I will let you all live."  
  
"No."  
  
"I knew it would come to this. Unfortunate, I had no desire to kill you. I gave you the tanker chance enough to turn away, but I suppose some people never learn." He sighed, as if he were making a decision he would truly regret, "Amazing device, isn't it? The codec. Wired directly to your inner ear." Snake suddenly noticed a twitching, as if some tiny insect were dancing inside his ear. "And your eardrum is such a delicate instrument. Goodbye, Snake." He said, then added as an afterthought, "I suppose it would be more dramatic for me to reveal my masterstroke in the seconds before you die, but even I can learn a lesson or two."  
  
The twitching escalated into an overwhelmingly high pitched whine, filling Snake's head far beyond capacity. His every thought was turned to mush and his head struck the ground as his eyes threatened to burst in their sockets. Snake slammed his head against the ground, harder this time, and red liquid flowed down his brow. His teeth began to chatter and grind uncontrollably, at an inhuman frequency, and with enough ferocity to chew through bone. He rolled back and forth in silent agony, reaching frantically for a bullet to place between his teeth, before he bit off his tongue. His fingers shot spasmodically at his belt, and wrapped itself around a round object, hanging by a pin.  
  
The last sonic grenade.  
  
His mind was now awash in a maddening flame, unable to formulate any cohesive thoughts, only random words or phantasmagoric images. All that now remained was instinct. He tore the grenade from it's pin and forced himself to keep his jaw open, then shoved the device as far back down his throat as it would go.  
  
For a second, one that felt like an eternity, Snake forced himself to remain impossibly still, although the sound rippling through his skull was ravaging his very body like a million burning needles.  
  
Then, he heard nothing.  
  
A stream of blood burst from his right ear, and rushed out like some scarlet waterfall. Snake's world vanished in a black shroud.  
  
He had no way of telling how long he had been out for. The deluge from his ear had subsided, and he felt slightly off- balance. He was permanently deaf in his right ear now, and his codec had hence been disabled. Snake removed a gauze from his pack and bandaged it over his ear. Drawing his USP, he stood up and strode off to find Ocelot.  
  
He had faint images in his mind of this place, pictures caught from the reflections bouncing off shards of a shattering window. Snake had been here before, long ago, in what could be another life. He knew exactly where Ocelot was. If that was who he really was.  
  
  
  
Endings  
  
Despite the hollow feeling that emanated from his deaf ear, the pounding of his heart echoed throughout Snake's mind. Although Ocelot's plan had been perfectly concealed, he had still glimpsed enough of its shards to discern what this conspiracy would culminate in. Whatever waited beyond the bolted door before him had not only changed Ocelot, but would alter any truth Snake had found within himself. It was strange how enigmatic his own existence had been to him, that his very birthright had been denied to him in the name of national security.  
  
At that moment, he understood his adversary's bitterness, and for an instant's madness he shared the rage that consumed Ocelot when he was preaching on the tanker's blasted hull. All his life he had suspected that he was a tool of the government he had sworn to serve, a weapon to be cast aside once all usefulness had faded. In a few moments, whatever lay within this apparently abandoned plant would either obliterate his own foundation, or relinquish his life long self-doubting.  
  
Steeling himself, Snake pushed the steel door open and crept into the room, gripping the USP pistol in his bare fist more tightly than before.  
  
A pale green light bathed the batter soldier, and he stared forward in awe, despite the fact that he knew exactly what he would find.  
  
The room that stretched before him was enormous. Its floor was a gird catwalk; small square windows tasted the salt, and the murmuring susurrus of the sea below his feet. Snake's every breath was quick now, quick and ragged, brimming forth in a cloud of steam. The room was refrigerated; it had to be.  
  
For the elaborate catwalk was lined with an uncountable number of cylinders, stasis tubes, filled with an incandescent, viscous, green liquid, large enough to hold a man; for indeed, that was their function. To hold and gestate a man.  
  
Every tube contained a humanoid form, naked, and when Snake looked upon each man's face, it was as if he was gazing into a mirror. This structure was nothing more than a means of mass-producing exact replicas of himself- it was the embryo of the perfect soldier.  
  
His life, or whatever mockery of a life he had been given, was nothing more than an experiment, a yardstick for which an army would be measured against. Vamp's cryptic death rattle now seemed more appropriate than ever, "I know what you are." The tattered voice echoed, "War."  
  
"Impressive, isn't it?"  
  
The cold voice jarred Snake from his thoughts, he spun around and his USP flicked towards it.  
  
Revolver Ocelot stood directly behind him, and his smile betrayed nothing less than pure arrogance. Smiling wickedly, Ocelot paced across the catwalk deliberately slow. "If you're going to spill more blood, then take it now." He demanded.  
  
Snake lowered the USP. "Who are you?" He asked, already knowing what was to come.  
  
Ocelot's eyes fell on Snake curiously, as a cat might regard a mouse. "I think you already know who I am." He said pressing his fist against his breast. Then, added in an almost inaudible whisper, "Brother."  
  
"You're the last one of us." Snake said. "Other than these here."  
  
"Yes." Ocelot said, somewhat pleased to have finally come out of the shadows. "Solidus. That's the codename those bastards….. cursed me with."  
  
"Solidus? You shared Sear's codename?"  
  
Solidus spat, anger flaring in his eyes. "Sears was the biggest pawn of us all. Composed of nothing but genetic trash, nothing but a sniveling weakling, he even needed the exoskeleton to stand amongst our ranks. For all his good intentions and misguided moral principles, tell me, what has he achieved?" Solidus tore his revolver from his belt and in a swift movement, three stasis tubes shattered and their contents spilled to the ground. He then stepped over to the naked human form sprawled lifelessly across the catwalk, eyeing it cautiously. At that moment, Snake could not even imagine what the man before him was thinking, and perhaps, he did not wish to.  
  
Solidus straightened in a sudden motion and kicked the clone full in the face, it keeled over the side, and plummeted towards the water below. "Unlike the act I have wrought here!" He shouted triumphantly, all contempt directed towards the clones floating in the tubes. "Look at these… nothings! Our own lives forfeit so that these things could exist. They brought me, us, into this world to serve the ends of their pompous plans! Never once suspecting our ability to determine our own futures." Solidus stared blankly, lost in his own words. Turning towards Snake, he spoke more softly now, "You, why are you here?" He bared his fist at the man before him, the difference in the flesh of his arm and that of his hand was more evident than before. "I am not Liquid, squabbling over petty matters of fraternity. I am not some insane terrorists, endangering the lives of those sheep who live ignorant to us, to the real world."  
  
Snake holstered his pistol, and crossed his arms, a sardonic smile formed on his face. "Yet, here you are, posturing like him. You're here for some twisted form of petty vengeance, because you were too pathetic to take control of your own life."  
  
"You know nothing of control!" Solidus screamed, "You have the greatest reason to side with me! They gave you nothing but scorn as gratitude."  
  
Solidus turned his back to Snake to gaze once more at the figures floating aimlessly in the tubes. "They hated you, you know. Once you were their greatest star. With the advent of Liquid, you became obsolete, the fact that you defeated the mighty Metal Gear meant nothing to them.  
  
"Then you struck Liquid down. In an experiment designed to prove his superiority over you. Not once, but three times you beat him. They could have accepted Rex's fall, accrediting it to your previous encounters with Metal Gear, and Liquid's inexperience in handling it." Solidus looked over his shoulder at Snake. "But defeating him hand to hand was simply unacceptable to them. He was now their glory, the pinnacle of their technological magic, cast down in shame by your tenacity and fighting spirit. You tore down the illusions created by their science and mathematics, all of it became meaningless in the course of a single experiment. There is no room for emotion or determinism in a world of science. Years of work destroyed in an instant, because a genetic algorithm, Liquid, failed to achieve the calculated results, results that were inconclusive on paper. When you vanished, they combed the base like rabid dogs, all they wanted then was your genetic code, code they discarded so long ago. That's why Sears came about. He was an engineered failure, somewhat like yourself. I don't doubt that the two of you found some form of kinship within that. But Sears died by my hand. And so will you, if you choose to resist me."  
  
Snake glowered at Soldius. "By your own admission, our genes have no bearing on the course of our actions. The Patriots believe they can dissect a man's entrails and lay them out from head to toe, to siphon the parts they deem usable. They are wrong, for a man's own will determine what he chooses to achieve. Stand down now, or today you will die."  
  
"Arrogance until the end, eh?" Solidus sneered, "Ah, well. It is fitting that a life of violence, should end in violence." He turned slowly, than a blur of color flickered, and Solidus' revolvers' blared in the darkness. 


End file.
